The long-term objective of the proposed project is to study the knowledge, attitudes, and action tendencies of Hispanic women about breast cancer, in order to increase their understanding of its prevention, diagnosis and treatment, and to reduce the mortality rate, social and medical costs of the disease. The six-month study, exploratory in nature, will focus on a systematic sample of 100 Hispanic households in the Washington, D.C. Metropolitan area, interviewing all adult women (over 18) and their male partners in the household. The interview, to be conducted in English or Spanish, will explore knowledge, personal attitudes, and action tendencies about breast cancer (dependent variables), ass well as the sociodemograpnic background of the subjects, their attitudes about the family, sex relations, social networks, and cultural beliefs (independent variables). In addition, data will be collected on social support networks within the Hispanic community, for a contextual analysis of the radial influences that family, church, school, health centers, etc. have on the Latina. The proposed Phase II direction of the project will be to identify the most significant family, social, and cultural variables that influence the Hispanic woman's unique beliefs about breast cancer, and the ways in which the study's applied phase can be instrumental in changing them. Culturally relevant educational/informational tools can then be devised to improve her understanding of the disease--tools that can be utilized by government, social agencies,and commercial organizations to reduce the human and social costs of breast cancer in the Hispanic-American population.